Methods, Health Information, Safety and articles of Instruction that benefit both donors and vampires with suggestions about how to interact with each other. This forum is available as a public resource, but only House of the Dreaming Forum participants with Crimson Circle access may post.

Since the dawn of humanity, public and private rituals have been enacted to exert control over nature, over neighboring communities, and over particular individuals. These more or less ostentatious ceremonies solicit the aid of the gods, cosmic powers, ancestors, and even powerful demons. For thousands of years the ability to come in contact with the world of gods and spirits lied exclusively on the hands of the witches, magi, and priests, who in order to protect their wisdom, created closed societies where they were better able to develop and pass on their traditions. Fully aware of their power, the priests fought off those who refused to accept these closed societies as sole exclusive intermediaries between the physical realm and the realm of divinity. However, there were always those to preferred to remain outside these closed sects and continue to communicate with spiritual entities without intermediaries offering, transferring and enhancing their personal energy, often through the use of personal physical items like hair, bones and nail-clippings or through vital fluids like saliva, semen and even blood.

Despite the prosecution of such societies and individuals, the magickal formulas of such priests and witches were passed down, generation to generation and have arrived at our present day. It is well known among most in magickal communities that the magickal output multiplies when blood is used as a vehicle for magick. Blood is the deepest communicator of energy; it is the supreme magickal pact. The results of blood magick are more drastic and its effects, more profound, often the end results are quite permanent, so extreme caution is strongly advised. Some would say blood is just too powerful. Magick is about transformation, where the most important transformation takes place inside the officiant. For this reason it is of the utmost importance that the officiant be of sound mind, balanced in his or her emotional throne, focused, and with a positive mindset. Undoing the work generated by a blood pact will be far more difficult than in normal circumstances, therefore, before creating such magickal work it is fundamental that focus is clearly directed, that personal emotions are leveled, and that the ultimate goal is fully understood. There is no place for capricious whims in blood magick. In each working, powerful energies are activated and when they unfurl their wings they may be impossible to control.

Of Good and Evil

Humanity has two sides. Humans are capable of such great feats of benevolence but also great evil and destruction. We can only assume that evil, just like benevolence, is an intrinsic quality within each of us. All magick of course has two sides, and like any good tool, it can be used to either protect or injure. Blood is not evil, neither is blood magick. Blood is simply a powerful tool that can be used in Magick. Magick has little to do with ethics or morals. Ethics is the domain of the officiant, who, shaped by his or her own beliefs, experiences, reasoning and choices will be inevitably accountable for their actions and for the pacts they choose to create.

The Blood is Life

Throughout history we find accounts of famine and abandonment where the victims of circumstance, survived only by consuming each other’s blood. We also find that in quest of eternal beauty, some have gone through extremes to regularly bathe in virgin blood, which no doubt inspired the modern-day novelty of the blood facial. Blood consumption is often associated with longevity and youthfulness, yet blood is a carrier of disease, so such practices are highly discouraged. Many in the vampire culture attest that, despite the fact that blood is a natural ipicac, ingesting it, even small amounts, enhances their youthfulness, boosts their vitality, and contributes to their overall physical and emotional wellbeing. Some would argue that a life-saving blood-transfusion is in fact the same as consuming blood, just in this case through a vein. Ritualized or not, science is bringing us full circle to what the witches and priests of old have attributed as the power of blood. We have come a long way from the blood cults of the 80’s and early 90’s where demon-worshiping gangs would lurk around the corners waiting to kidnap young women to satiate their Hammer film inspired blood rituals. Even the kink inspired public blood-play nights of the surreptitious fetish scene seem a little passé. A new respect has emerged; one that combines tradition with science and knowledge with accountability.

When it comes to working with health and longevity, blood magic has a dual purpose. It can be used to heal, to prevent disease, and to dissuade deterioration, but it can also be used to transfer pain or create suffering in those that deserve punishment of the flesh, should it be the only way they may develop empathy. It is important to clarify that no magickal working, not even blood magick, can substitute medical intervention. Certainly there are rituals devised to eradicate specific illnesses, but these are not substitutes for the recommendations of a medical professional. It is, however most advisable to confer medication protocols and insure the medication is appropriate and is not responsible for creating the medical issue. Magick works best on a clean slate and it becomes far more difficult to exert its dominion over a body that is consistently poisoned by chemicals. While magick activates the self-healing mechanisms in the body, sometimes these are weakened or lacking and medical supplements are in fact necessary.

Aging is such tenebrous territory. Age often conveys wisdom and worldliness, or it may otherwise just convey that time was unforgiving in its passing. Some witches delight in the fact that they appear to be twice their age often to compensate for their lack of experience, others would rather seem 20 years younger on any given day and use magic to obscure their physical age. Blood magic is particularly popular for presence enhancing rites, to gain popularity, visibility, admiration and powerful alliances. Conversely, these rites can be used to keep away bad influences, to exclude others, and to undermine the attention directed to others. Blood can also be used to strengthen imperceptibility when we need not be noticed. When it comes to presence enhancing rites, blood is often used as a pact between the target of the working (not necessarily the officiant) and the spiritual entity evoked; like Lilith, Peneme or Zebul. Before conducting any blood work with any spirits, deities, or demons, it is strongly advised that that the officiant know the entity well and that the rite is conducted with the utmost respect. Blood packs can charge and strengthen amulets, talismans and tools while boosting the self-confidence necessary to radiate your intention.

The Blood Sacrifice

Perhaps the first thing that comes to mind when we speak of blood sacrifice is that story from the Christian bible where a father is asked by god to take his son’s life and offer the ultimate blood sacrifice, or perhaps it is more the image of a headless chicken splashing blood over a woman in white, or perhaps even the Mithraic ritual of slaughtering a bull on the altar before an ecstatic congregation... Well, despite the attempts of more-or-less organized religions to dress up death as the ultimate and most redeeming blood sacrifice, blood rites do not have to cause harm in this way, where a life, human or otherwise is lost. A small amount of blood goes a long way and, no blood is more effective than the blood of the ritual officiant who is establishing the pact, and towards that end, only a drop is needed. The very best way to produce this precious drop of blood is by using a lancet, a small sterile pin-like device used by diabetics to test their blood. The lancet is far cheaper, safer, more discrete, and more effective than a blade or syringe of any sort. One drop, maybe two, is generally all that is needed. Even menstrual blood can be used as an alternative to its livelier counterpart.

The expression ‘signing your name in blood’ is a perfect metaphor for a blood pact. These rites carry a great deal of personal energy and identity. This metaphor can certainly be used literally when establishing a blood pact, where some may even opt to write their petition or sigil in blood, but all that is needed is a smear of blood on the petition or sigil itself. A smear of blood on a talisman or effigy may be all it’s needed although some may opt to paint it in blood or mix blood into the actual paint. A drop of blood may also be mixed with the specific oils to anoint or dress a candle, to denote sacred space, to consecrate an altar or magickal tool, like an athame or speculum. A drop of blood can also be mixed into spell components to magnify the intent or to augment the striking power of workings where pins and needles may be used. Blood can also be used in divination by scrying a drop of blood dripped into a vessel of water, wine or onto a flat surface like a mirror. While some may fear the liberal use of blood in particular situations or when addressing certain deities, the use of blood in magickal work is truly limited only by the adeptness, wit and imagination of the officiant.

In Short

There are blood rituals for every aspect of life, be it health and presence to love, money, career, family, social life, justice, etc… but blood magick is serious work and should never be taken lightly. Blood pacts create steadfast results often with deep-rooted consequences, and can be dangerous for those who are unprepared, who may use the pact carelessly or with malicious intent. However, if the pact is honored and respected, if the officiant takes the time to calculate the ramifications and act responsibly, with accountability, blood rites can certainly open hefty portals for personal and community achievement and transformation.